Two companies commit to 87 new jobs in Jeffersonville

Two companies that plan to add a total of 87 new jobs in Jeffersonville will seek property tax abatements from the city council next Monday.

Michigan-based Mill Steel Co., a flat-rolled steel supplier, is planning a 225,000-square-foot facility in the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville. It will invest $16.1 million to buy the former Bethnova Tube facility before expanding it, according to One Southern Indiana, the chamber of commerce for Clark and Floyd counties.

Company executive Eric Lambert told redevelopment commissioners Monday that it currently employs about 200 workers at three facilities in Michigan and Alabama.

The average wage for manufacturing positions in Jeffersonville will be about $19 an hour, while the average wage of all 43 new, full-time positions, including management, is about $27 an hour, Lambert said.

The redevelopment commission gave a unanimously favorable recommendation to the Mill Steel proposal, as well as the expansion of Brinly-Hardy Co., a 175-year-old lawn-and-garden equipment company that currently employs 94 workers in the Jeffersonville Industrial Park.

Brinly-Hardy plans to hire 44 more workers by 2015 with additional annual salaries averaging $47,727. It plans to invest $1.5 million in improving its 240,000-square-foot facility and $3.25 million on new equipment, company officials said.

With council approval, the companies would receive five-year tax breaks on personal property with the amount decreasing 20 percent per year, and 10-year breaks for real estate with the amount decreasing 10 percent per year.

Reporter Charlie White can be reached at (812) 949-4026 and on Twitter @c_write.